Subaru BRZ concept unveiled in LA

Just a fortnight before the road-ready BRZ is unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show, and with a Carsguide preview drive set for Japan in the first week in December, Subaru is going public with a thinly-disguised concept car in California.

It comes as the BRZ Concept-STI on the opening day of the Los Angeles Auto Show, competing for attention with everything from the new Honda CR-V to the Shelby Mustang GT500 complete with a 320km/h top speed. But there is still no confirmation of sales in Australia.

The BRZ is a joint venture with Toyota and, even though Subaru is responsible for the basic chassis design and the car's horizontally- opposed four-cylinder engine, the company is still lagging more than six months behind its partner's preview plan for a car expected to be called the Toyota 86.

A pair of FT-86 concepts have been on the motor show trail for more than 18 months, with a showroom-ready Series II model unveiled at the New York show back in April.

The BRZ STI looks much as expected, with the same basic body as the 86 and tweaking by STI to give it extra punch - including a new twist on Subaru's classic World Rally Championship colour called WR Blue Pearl II.

The STI work is concentrated around the edges - with a deep front spoiler, rear wing, wheel arch flares, rear diffuser and twin exhaust pipes - but there is a carbon fibre roof.

An STI WRX already has a carbon roof in Japan but there is no news on whether the costly topping, already used by BMW on its M3, will make it to production. But the roof will cut weight and reduce the car's centre-of-gravity, helping with what Subaru is already claiming as "pure handling delight" in the BRZ.

Looking closer at the BRZ, the nose gets Subaru DNA including a hexagonal grille, "hawk-eye" headlamps and fin-shaped fog lamps. Subaru says the car's 2.0-litre flat four-cylinder has direct fuel-injection, using Toyota's D-4S technology for a high output and high environmental standards, although it gives no power or torque figures. But the engine is set a full 120 mm lower and 240 mm closer to the centre of the chassis than other Subaru cars.

"As a result, it achieves one of the lowest possible centres of gravity compared to other cars on the market today," Subaru says. "By including lightweight parts such as the carbon fibre roof, the overall weight has been reduced. The body structure is both lightweight and highly rigid." The only other notable inclusions on the car are Brembo four-wheel disc brakes and STI lightweight 18-inch alloy wheels with STI sports suspension.

When the BRZ hits the road it will become the first Subaru coupe since the flabby SVX of 1991. That car was intended as a grand tourer and had a six-cylinder engine, as well as jet-fighter side glass with a small opening for the windows in the doors.

It never sold well in Australia, partly because of a high price, but it looked a lot better than the Vortex two-door that Subaru unleashed in the 1980s with a wedgy body that looked more like a motorised door stop.